Everyone Needs Good Communication Skills – Even The Mining Sector.
The Sunday Times on 27 July reported at least 8 suicides in the Pilbara with Fly In Fly Out (FIFO) workers. This is shattering for their families, for their colleagues and the communities. One thing that stood out for me in the articles was the expectations that people put on themselves to tough it out. When working in the Pilbara I often heard the terms “take a teaspoon of cement and toughen up” or “don’t be a princess” or ”toughen up”. I know that there is a lot of pressure on staff working FIFO and I also know that there are a lot of excellent services providing mental health education and counselling to people. I also know that this a complex issue that needs to be talked about.
So why don’t people self-disclose that they are feeling overwhelmed, depressed, anxious or suicidal. There is so much Fear of being judged or being seen as weak. But it’s also about people not feeling safe to self-disclose or not even knowing how to talk about their feelings. We need to focus on effective communication skills such as active listening, empathy and most of all on how to be honest and assertive. Many people still find it difficult to say No in the workplace or to speak up at a safety meeting. If people are struggling with speaking up in our workplaces we need to invest more in training people to be assertive, to say no, to give and receive feedback and to communicate authentically so they can speak up. We need to spend more time listening and being empathic so as to create a safe emotional space. We need to focus more on soft communication skills and emotional intelligence, rather than just on technical skills and safety skills.
